


connected, protected

by HeartHarps



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, F/M, Identity Reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:38:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeartHarps/pseuds/HeartHarps
Summary: "It was you the whole time," Marinette said, sitting back and looking at Adrien with tears still falling down her face. "You were in danger. You could have been hurt."





	connected, protected

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](https://buggachat.tumblr.com/post/174545281218/the-contrast) light-hearted, humorous comic. I ruin everything.
> 
> This takes place a year or two in the future. Disclaimer: I haven't finished Season 2, so this may not match canon perfectly.

Nothing.  
  
Debris falling around their heads as they crouched behind an overturned car, Ladybug and Chat Noir looked in shock as the Lucky Charm gave them: nothing. Nothing. There was nothing they could do.  
  
_Nothing_...  
  
Chat Noir didn't get it. "C'mon, M'Lady! Let's keep—"  
"Chat Noir, no," Ladybug said, grabbing Chat's shoulders to keep him in place. He looked at her. She said, "There's nothing we can do." The Lucky Charm had never given them nothing before, but Ladybug knew this day would come eventually, and now there was no doubt in her mind what it was telling them to do.  
"I don't understand," Chat said, quietly, excitable candor now lost.  
Ladybug wished they didn't have to give it all up. She knew he loved being Chat Noir, but their time as superheroes was over.  "This is the only way to protect the Miraculouses."  
Chat Noir shook his head. "How... We have to save Paris—"  
"There might not be a Paris left to save if Hawkmoth gets that wish."  
Ladybug managed to smile while she took her hands away and backed up, even though her heart was breaking. She touched one of her earrings briefly.  
"Lady, you can't—"  
But Ladybug said, "Spots off."  
  
-  
"Spots off."  
Chat panicked. As soon as she said those words, he shut his eyes. He didn't even see the flash of Miraculous magic start to de-transform her. He just crouched there, frozen, having decided long ago that he didn't want to know who Ladybug was. He couldn't believe she was doing this now.  
"What are you doing?" She said.  
"I don't want to know, La—" He started to say 'Lady', again, then remembered he wasn't talking to Ladybug anymore.  
He felt a hand touch one of his gloves. "It's okay," She said.  
There had to be some other way. They could figure it out. "I can't."  
"Chat, you have to transform _now_. Hawkmoth—"  
"I can't," He repeated, as reservations turned to fears in his stomach.  
Then, something _crashed_  near them, and Chat felt it in his legs; he felt Ladybug's hand squeeze his.  
All of a sudden, he remembered that he trusted her. From the day they met until his last moments as Chat Noir, he trusted his Ladybug. "Claws in." He kept his eyes closed as the light flashed around him, and his school clothes reappeared on his body.  
Ladybug took her hand away and he heard her gasp. Then, he opened his eyes.  
Marinette said, "Adrien!"  
"Marinette?"  
All of a sudden, a _boom_  sounded as the car they were hiding behind was blasted out of the way. They stood up. Hawkmoth landed in front them. "What... Where are Ladybug and Chat Noir?" He boomed.  
Adrien saw Marinette look at him in the corner of his eye, so he yelled, "They went that way!" And pointed in a random direction. Marinette copied so Hawkmoth growled and flew off to stalk two invisible superheroes. His minions, however, were still wreaking havoc and destroying stuff, so Marinette said, "Let's go!" And took off into an alley.  
  
15 minutes later, they were sitting on the ground in a subway station, watching Hawkmoth give up on the news. He wasn't cleaning up his mess, but he was calling off his minions and promising he would be back for the Miraculouses later. Still breathing hard from all the running, Adrien looked over at Marinette and really started to process everything, now that they weren't fighting for their lives.  
"It's really you?" Marinette asked quietly, "It's been you the whole time?"  
Adrien smiled. "Yes. Adrien Agreste...is Chat Noir," He admitted out loud, and it felt weird to say it. He looked away and thought about that sentence, but didn't get very far as Marinette suddenly launched herself at him and pulled him into a hug. "Oh!"  
For a second, there was nothing, but then he heard a loud sniffle. Was she...crying?  
"Marinette?" He said.  
"It was you the whole time," She repeated, sitting back and looking at Adrien with tears still falling down her face. She looked really upset. "You were in danger. You could have been hurt."  
Adrien...was floored. Why was she so worried? They had both made the decision each day to fight for Paris. "It's okay, Marinette. I'm fine."  
But she just burst into tears again and threw herself around him, squeezing his for dear life.  
Adrien's brain walked forwards through time, over every time he had seen Ladybug or Marinette, and mentally fit them together. Lady, Marinette, they were the same. Every time Marinette ran off, or Alya talked about the Ladyblog, or they ran past the bakery...  
Suddenly, Adrien remembered something else. At the bakery, on the roof and talking to Marinette, then talking to Ladybug... She had told him she liked someone else. Ladybug told him, because Marinette liked someone else.  
Marinette sat back again, apologizing and saying something but Adrien couldn't hear. All of a sudden he was young and dumb again, feeling his heart break every time Ladybug's earrings beeped and she ran off, wishing he could watch her take off that mask. He had loved Ladybug for so long, and it turned out she had loved him too.  
Adrien touched Marinette's face and leaned in and kissed her.  
He surprised her, he knew, so he stopped right away and looked. She seemed shocked. "You like me?"  
Adrien smiled. "I would have realized it sooner if I hadn't been so smitten with Ladybug."  
Marinette laughed, short and quiet. She raised her hands to cover her face and Adrien saw tears well up.  
"Please don't cry again."  
She laughed again instead, reaching out to grab Adrien by his shirt and kiss him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!!! I just have so many feelings about these two. Let me know in the comments if you liked this and if you want me to write more Miraculous Ladybug!


End file.
